Department of Agriculture and Livestock

Governor Pariwa told the crowd gathered at the Ron Bates oval that this government sees so much potential in the Agriculture and Livestock industry that they can immensely benefit from.

The Madang Provincial Administration has allocated K1.2m to kickstart its downstream processing initiative with the livestock department. The abattoir in Sagalau will be upgraded to host a downstream processing facility for livestock in Madang Province.

The same is anticipated for all agricultural commodities such as coffee, coconut and cocoa.

This is part of a four-year long-term exercise under the Public Sector Reform project that started in 2021 reviewing all government agency functions and policies.

DPM Secretary, Taies Sansan said, “The Functions Expenditure Review (FER) is a critical government reform conducted by DPM to know if agencies are performing their mandated functions, and if they have outlined their short and long-term plans to achieve the National Government’s 20-year Strategic Development Plan (SDP) and realise Vision 2050.”

He said he will make sure “no stones will be left unturned” as he instructed for accounts to furnish him full report on “records of expenditure” from 2019, 2020, and 2021 to date.

On financial matters going forward:

The APEC economies have been urged to work together to waver the challenges and create opportunities for women participation in sustainable agriculture and fisheries for food security and revenue generation.

PNG delegate and Chief Livestock Advisor with the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, Regina Nukundj, said women in agriculture and fisheries play an important role in supporting their households and communities.

The workshop titled ‘Workshop on Preparations for Agriculture and Food Security meetings during the APEC SOM1’ brought together key stakeholders from the sector.

The event aims to inform participants on the agriculture and food security policy priorities and deliverables for APEC 2018, as well as preparation and logistics for the meeting, and preliminary planning of the APEC Food Security Week.

It also sought to gauge views and inputs from participants on policy priorities

Bulolo MP Sam Basil challenged the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL), and Department of Trade, Commerce and Industry to support it.

According to DAL, the agriculture sector supports 6.1 million Papua New Guineans which make up 85 percent of the country’s population.

“We have preached about SME development and empowering our local farmers and businesses yet we cannot see beyond the horizon,” Basil said.  

Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Tommy Tomscoll said the new polices are the, Agriculture Adjustment (AA) Bill, Agriculture Investment Bill, Incentives for large scale commercial investment and the incentives for smallholder, blockholder and family agriculture investment.      

The two draft Bills are to be presented in Parliament this year.

“Agriculture Adjustment (AA) draft Bill has been cleared by the State Solicitor paving the way for it to the First Legislative Council and to Parliament,” Tomscoll said.